CBU, cluster bomb
unit, small explosive device, also called a bomblet, placed inside a
canister with other CBUs; when canister is dropped from an aircraft it opens
before reaching the ground; the bomblets can be configured to explode on
contact with the ground, when stepped on, or after a certain amount of time
has passed, and to carry a variety of payloads

Chaff, radar
confusion reflectors, consisting of thin, narrow, metallic strips of various
lengths and frequency responses, which are used to reflect echoes for
confusion purposes and to cause enemy radar guided missiles to lock on to it
instead of the real aircraft

CIA, Central
Intelligence Agency

CINCPAC,
Commander-in-Chief, Pacific Command

CINCPACAF,
Commander-in-Chief, Pacific Air Force

CINCPACFLT,
Commander-in-Chief, Pacific Fleet

CINCSAC,
Commander-in-Chief, Strategic Air Command

CINCUSARPAC,
Commander-in-Chief, U.S. Army Pacific

CJCS, Chairman,
Joint Chiefs of Staff

CL, classified

CMD, Capital Military
District

CNO, Chief of Naval
Operations

CNCR, Committee of
National Concord and Reconciliation, variant of NCNRC

CNR, Committee of
National Reconciliation

COM, Commander

COMINT,
communications intelligence

Component Commander,
senior military officer responsible to the commander for a specific
component (Air Force, Army, Marines, Navy) in a unified or subordinate
unified command

COMUSMACV,
Commander, U.S. Military Assistance Command, Vietnam

CONUS, Continental
United States

CORDS, Civil
Operations and Revolutionary (later Rural) Development Support

COSVN, Central
Office of South Vietnam, Communist political and military headquarters for
the southern half of South Vietnam

Dikes, Red River
Delta, an intricate, centuries-old system of dikes that
controlled irrigation in the low-lying areas of the Red River Delta of North
Vietnam and protected those who lived and worked there

DJSM, Director,
Joint Staff, Memorandum

DMZ, demilitarized
zone, established roughly at Vietnam’s 17th parallel to a width not more
than five kilometers each side of the demilitarized zone line

DOD, Department of
Defense

DOD/ISA, Office of
the Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs

DOS, Department of
State

DRV, Democratic
Republic of Vietnam (North Vietnam)

EA, Executive
Assistant, Joint Chiefs of Staff

EAP, Bureau of East
Asian and Pacific Affairs, Department of State

EO, electro
optical

EOB, Executive Office
Building

Exdis, exclusive
distribution

F–4 Phantom, an
all-weather jet fighter-bomber used by the U.S. Air Force and the U.S. Navy
in Vietnam

F–111, a U.S. Air
Force heavy fighter-bomber without an official name; nicknamed
“Aardvark”

LINEBACKER I,
code name for U.S. air interdiction campaign against North Vietnam, May
10–October 23, 1972

LINEBACKER
II, code name for U.S. strategic bombing campaign against
North Vietnam, December 18–29, 1972

LOC, line of
communication

LORAN, long-range
navigation system for air and marine travel

LOU, limited official
use

LPF, Lao Patriotic
Front, political arm of the Pathet Lao

MACV, Military
Assistance Command, Vietnam

MAP, Military
Assistance Program

MASF, military
assistance service-funded

MAT, Mobile Advisory
Team

MEDTC, Military
Equipment Delivery Team, Cambodia

Meo,see Hmong

MIG–21, fighter
aircraft provided by Soviet Union to North Vietnam

mm, millimeter

MR, Military Region;
Government of Vietnam divided the country into four zones for military and
administrative purposes; MR1 contained the five northernmost provinces of
South Vietnam, MR2 included provinces in the central and north central
sections, MR3 was made up of the south central part of the country and
included Saigon, and MR4 in the Mekong Delta held the rest of the country;
sometimes an MR was also called a Corps Tactical Zone

MSO, minesweepers,
ocean

mtg, meeting

Muong,see Hmong

NCNRC, National
Council for National Reconciliation and Concord

NCO, non-commissioned
officer

NCRC, National
Council for Reconciliation and Concord, variant of NCNRC

SIOP, Single
Integrated Operational Plan, the U.S. contingency plan for nuclear
war

SNIE, Special
National Intelligence Estimate

Sortie, one attack
by a single military aircraft

Sparrow, a
medium-range, air-to-air missile used by U.S. Navy and U.S. Marine Corps
fighter aircraft

Specat, special
category

SR–71, a long-range,
high-altitude, strategic reconnaissance aircraft

SRG, Senior Review
Group

Subj, subject

SVN, South
Vietnam

Tacair, tactical
air support

Telcon, telecon,
telephone conversation

TPP, thermal power
plant

TS, Top Secret

U, unclassified

UH, utility
helicopter

UPI, United Press
International

USA, United States
Army

USAF, United States
Air Force

USG, United States
Government

USIA, United States
Information Agency

USN, United States
Navy

USSAG, United
States Support Activities Group

USSR, Union of
Soviet Socialist Republics

U Tapao, Royal Thai
Air Force Base from which USAF B–52s carried out missions over
Vietnam

VC, Viet Cong

Viet Minh,Viet Nam Doc Lap Dong Minh (League for the
Independence of Vietnam), a Communist-led coalition, formed in 1941, that
fought the Japanese in World War II and the French in the First Indochina
War

VNAF, (South)
Vietnamese Air Force

VNN, (South)
Vietnamese Navy

VOA, Voice of
America

VSSG, Vietnam
Special Studies Group

WH, White House

WSAG, Washington
Special Actions Group

Yankee Station, South
China Sea location of U.S. aircraft carrier or carriers from which Navy
conducted air operations against North Vietnam

Z, Zulu, time
designator on White House, Departments of State and Defense messages/cables
based on Greenwich Mean, aka Coordinated Universal, Time